Motorcycling: Rossi makes it four in a row in Catalonia

The world champion Valentino Rossi produced yet another near flawless ride to take his fourth MotoGP victory in a row when he won the Catalan Grand Prix yesterday.

The win underscored the dominance of the Italian, who has now won five of the six races in the new class. He said: "I made quite a good start and was able to sit in and follow the others. I saw Carlos Checa had a very good rhythm and waited until after halfway before I decided to overtake and thought I could win the race if I did not make any mistakes."

Rossi's Honda team-mate Tohru Ukawa of Japan, the only rider able to stay with Rossi in the latter stages, finished second and Spain's Checa crossed the line in third. Rossi has stretched his overall lead to 48 points over Ukawa, the only man to defeat him this season, in the second race, in South Africa.

It was the 10th consecutive victory for Honda in the top class, the 23-year-old Rossi having taken four straight wins at the end of last season on his way to the 500cc title. .

In the 250cc class Italy's Marco Melandri closed to within six points of the championship leader Fonsi Nieto of Spain after he cruised his way to his second grand prix win in a row. His compatriot Roberto Rolfo took second place after an entertaining dogfight with Nieto, who finished third.

The 125cc category produced the tightest finish of the day, with the world champion Manuel Poggiali snatching victory by less than a bike's length from Spain's Daniel Pedrosa in the final metres. The San Marino rider now has a 21-point lead in the championship standings over the Frenchman Arnaud Vincent, who could finish no higher than 11th place.